Once upon a time, the TSR folks decided in the early 1980s that the D&D Game had gotten SO big that it could be sold in mass-market retail stores and book stores.

That meant a lot of changes. Tom Moldvay's great new Basic set had only been out 2 years but had to have new artworks at least, probably a whole new edition, to match the slick quality necessary for mass merchandising. (That applied to the brand-new Cook-Marsh Expert as well.) I was tasked to write the text, and Larry Elmore was selected as the principal artist, to do covers and many interior artworks.

Initial cover concepts were similar to the previous edition, portraying a group of adventurers with a dragon. That was almost used, but it bothered Gary. After the color images were ready to be finalized in oils, after a lot of plans were made, Gary changed course. He asked Larry to focus the action on just one fighter and one dragon... and the world-famous Red Box cover emerged.

Recently I was digging through a container of old, long-forgotten artworks, and came across Larry's original, the "Other Red Box" cover. We put it on display for Frankenparty (just before GaryCon IX), and it's been in the living room ever since.

Thought you might like to see it. (Thanx to Jon Peterson for the quality photo, attached.)

Special note: This original Elmore, a historical milestone and monument to 'what might have been', is for sale. It's quite expensive and I do have a pending offer. If you want to get into the fray, pls let me know via pm or email. (The sale should take weeks, so you have time.)